Chemical analysis tools such as gas chromatographs (“GC”), mass spectrometers (“MS”), ion mobility spectrometers (“IMS”), and various others, are commonly used to identify trace amounts of chemicals, including, for example, chemical warfare agents, explosives, narcotics, toxic industrial chemicals, volatile organic compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, hydrocarbons, airborne contaminants, herbicides, pesticides, and various other hazardous contaminant emissions.
Most explosives, however, have very low volatility indices and as such, emit a very low amount of vapor into the surrounding air, typically below the detection limit of most analysis instruments. For this reason, detection typically involves the use of a swab or pad to capture the sample, and in some cases, involves heating the collector to release or vaporize the sample, thereby releasing it into an ambient gas matrix (e.g., air) before being transferred into the chemical detector.